Goumard - Decent Fish, Great Bathrooms (Paris Restaurant Review No. 7)

We returned from Paris at the end of July. Here it is over two months later and we are finally about to write up the last of our trip's dining experiences. We have a good excuse though, because we have both been very busy, particularly Lisa who has started a new business venture. Unfortunately, we did not save the best for last, because Goumard was good, but not nearly as good as Guy Savoy or Arpege. Nonetheless, for poisson, it was pretty good.

Normally, we skip the apperatif part of the meal, but since we were with our friend Aileen, we decided to go for the total experience. We all had a glass of pink champagne, which was a nice change. We also had a bottle of sauvignon blanc, recommended by the waiter. It was a perfect choice, and set off the food very well. Our amuse bouche was a salmon quiche with seaweed. We were surprised how much we liked it, even with the seaweed.

We all loved our appetizers. We shared the salmon, the tuna with goat cheese and the crab and asparagus. The salmon and tuna were absolutely wonderful, and the crab was very good. Steve even liked the asparagus, which is unusual for him.

For the main course, Steve and Lisa both had the sea bass. Steve liked it a bit more than lisa did, but we both thought it was good. Aileen, being more adventurous, had a fish called Derouade. She thought it was very good. Steve thought, however, that it looked weird.

The cheese course was a bit weak. The cheddar was great. The goat cheese was pretty good. But we didn't like the roquefort - even Steve who usually loves any sort of bleu cheese. And the camembert was much too strong for us.

The dessert amuse bouche was quite good. For regular dessert Lisa had the bitter chocolate sorbet, which she liked alot. Aileen and Steve had rice pudding. Aileen thought it was good but Steve, who loves rice pudding, was a bit disapointed, because it was somewhat watery and lacking in flavor.

The bathrooms were very clean, french and pretty, with yellow and blue mosaic tile. However, the fixtures were somewhat old and the men's was not quite as immaculate, thus depriving them of a perfect score.

All in all, while this was in the middle of our Paris dining experiences (but would have been tops in London), it was a very pleasant dinner, with good food and company. Dinner for three with a bottle of wine was 530 Euros, so for two, with wine by the glass, it would have been about 300 Euros, which is a bit pricey but we were in Paris after all.

Our ratings for Goumard, 9 rue Duphout, Paris

7 of 10 Fish Hooks; 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Brown's Tea - Quintessential British Tea Experience (London Restaurant Review No. 4)

We went to several teas in London, but the most British of those experiences was at Brown's Tea in the Brown's Hotel. This was like having tea in a 19th century Victorian drawing room, replete with cozy nooks and oversized chairs and couches. Interestingly, however, the tea and food quality here were not as high as our tea in Paris (although as we have said many times everything is better in Paris).

Lisa had the Earl Grey tea which she liked, although she found it, like all London tea, a bit strong and requiring alot of sugar. Steve had the lemon verbena which he did not throw up from, so for him that means he liked it (since he is definitely not a tea person). We really loved the silver teasets, however, which were again totally British and quite lovely.

The sandwiches here were a bit weak, which cut down on the overall rating. There were more sandwiches with veggies in them than we'd have liked and not enough with either beef or salmon as at other teas we enjoyed. The scones, though, were exquisite, and the clotted cream divine. But, the rest of the desserts were not particularly memorable.

The bathrooms were the best in London. They were fancy, spotless and perfectly adorned.

All in all, even though this tea may have been weaker than the tea we had at our hotel, we chose to rate this one because it was more British and because the scones were the best we had.

Tea for two was 65 pounds or approximately $130 - pricey but worth it for a one time experience.

Our ratings for Brown's Tea, Albemarle Street, London:

7.5 of 10 Teaspoons; 3 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Le Meurice Tea - Everything's Better In Paris (Paris Restaurant Review No. 6)

We became great fans of afternoon tea on our recent trip to Europe. After having 3 teas in London that we really liked, we felt we needed to try one in Paris, so we picked the one in our hotel, Le Meurice. Given how much more we liked Paris than London, it should come as no surprise that even though London is the tea capital of the world, we liked the tea at Le Meurice better than any we tried in London.

Steve likes the non-tea part of teas the best, but he found his lemon tea to be tolerable, which is a good compliment for him. Lisa had french breakfast tea, which she had never even heard of, but she really liked its flavor, which had a hint of chocolate.

Enough of the irrelevancies, though. The keys to tea for us are the finger sandwiches and the scones. Here the sandwiches were uniformly great. We particularly liked the salmon and were happy that there were no egg sandwiches as there were for us to ignore in London. We were wondering how good the scones would be here, since one would think scones are quintessentially British. However, as with everything else, we loved these scones. They were very large and had an excellent flavor. And our favorite, the clotted cream (which we loved even after we later found out it isn't pasteurized), was again better here than anywhere in London.

The pastries had good variety and were generally ok, but after the tremendous scones, which we had second helpings of, we really didn't have much room for pastry anyway.

If you go to Paris and like afternoon tea at all, or even think you might, Le Meurice is a must try.

The bathrooms were very nice, as would be expected with luxury hotel bathrooms. They were just short of perfect.

Tea for two (and two for tea) was 60 euros and worth every penny.

Our ratings for Le Meurice Tea 228 rue de Rivoli, Paris:

9 of 10 Teaspoons 2.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Angelina in Paris - Best Hot Chocolate Tout Le Monde (Paris Restaurant Review No. 5)

Our view of our guide in Paris was somewhat mixed. Lisa really liked him and his philosophical musings, while Steve found him somewhat lazy. Nonetheless, we both agree that he came up with a real gem when he recommended Angelina as having the best hot chocolate in Paris. Since Angelina was within a block of our hotel, we tried it on one of our last mornings in Paris, and it started our most wonderful day there.

We both had the petite dejeuner, which consisted of orange juice, country bread, croissants, pain au chocolate and brioche. Steve, being a bread person, was totally in heaven. The breads were great. Lisa liked them as well. Neither of us particularly cared for the orange juice, but that was hardly the draw here. We saved the best for last, however, when we both got the large hot chocolate. Even Steve, who is not as much of a hot chocolate connoisseur as Lisa, couldn't get over how good this was. It was thick and dark, just as Lisa likes it. She thought it was by far the best she has ever had, and she also loved the whipped cream, which was almost like ice cream.

We wish we had discovered this place earlier, because we'd have had breakfast there every day. As it is, this will be one of the first places we visit when we return to Paris, which we definitely will at some point.

The only weak thing here were the bathrooms, which were fairly grimy (although with a certain charm to them).

Petite Dejeuner pour deux avec oj et chocolate chaud was 50 euros, which may seem high but was well worth it for this superb dining experience.

Our ratings for Angelina 226 rue de Rivoli, Paris

9 of 10 Chocolate Spoons; 1.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Restaurant Jules Verne - Middle of Tower, Middling Food (Paris Restaurant Review No. 4)

We couldn't wait to try Restaurant Jules Verne, which is in the Eiffel Tower and was reputed to have an extraordinary view. The view was in fact great, but our suggestion is skip this overpriced and mean spirited dining experience and just get your view from the top of the tower.

We started with a bottle of quite expensive wine, a Domaine D'Eglise Pomerol. However, Steve apparently committed a faux pas akin to killing the sommelier's dog, when he folded back the page of the wine list containing our choice. The reaction was so stereotypical of Parisien hautiness (which we didn't experience anywhere else the whole time we were in Paris, where in fact everyone was really nice) that Lisa couldn't stop chuckling. Steve normally might have been a bit sheepish, but the overreaction obliterated that instinct. Anyway, the wine itself was excellent even though the sommelier wouldn't even look at us as he poured.

The lobster appetizer we started with was good, but not nearly as good as others we had in Paris. For entrees, Steve had the ubiquitous lamb, which this time didn't come with brains like at Pre Catelan, but which also wasn't as good as the lamb at that establishment. Lisa had her usual Paris choice of langoustine, which she thought was subpar.

The cheese course was pretty good. We both liked the goat and bleu cheeses, we didn't like one of the other cheeses and we split on the camembert. For dessert, Lisa had the poached pear, which she thought ok but not great. Steve had some sort of orange creation which he liked.

The bathrooms were clean enough but there was only one stall and paper was strewn about. It certainly could have been better at a place like this.

Dinner for two with a bottle of relatively expensive wine was 600 Euros, and would have been about 500 Euros with wine by the glass. Truly, there are any number of better places to spend that kind of money in Paris. Moreover, even though our hotel concierge thought that by going to this restaurant we could get an express trip to the top of the tower, that was not the case (or the nasty restauranteurs were not copping to it).

Our ratings for Restaurant Jules Verne, Eiffel Tower, Paris:

5.5 of 10 Berets (with a downward bullet for overall snootiness); 1.5 of 3 Bathroom Brushes

Aria in Chicago: Good Food, Mixed Thoughts on Decor (Chicago Area Restaurnt Review No. 74)

On a recent Sunday night we decided to check out one of the local downtown restaurants that Steve had heard good things about, Aria in the Fairmont Hotel. We were quite impressed with the food, although Steve thought the decor was a bit ragged (Lisa disagreed, and in fact liked the decor).

We started with wine by the glass. Lisa had a Melville Pinot Noir, which she liked but not overly so. Steve had a Grgich Hills Zinfandel. Steve likes everything from the Grgich Hills vinyard, and this was no exception.

We both enjoyed the basket of warm Nan bread that started the dining festivities. Steve could have eaten 3 or 4 of these baskets, but stopped at most of the first. We shared the smoked salmon and the rock shrimp appetizers. We both really liked them.

At Steve's suggestion, Lisa had the ribeye chop (which Steve also had). For those unfamiliar with this cut, which is seen infrequently even at steakhouses, it is basically a charred prime rib. This means you get the good cut of beef of prime rib but with the better taste of a ribeye steak. Steve just loves this cut, and liked this one alot, although he has had better. Lisa liked Steve's choice and found it cooked perfectly and a nice change from the usual steak options. We also thought the accompanying potatoes were good.

For dessert, Lisa ordered a chocolate cake, which she found suitably dark and quite good. Steve had some sort of weird strawberry dish with whipped cream that he thought didn't work at all. The orange jelly dessert amuse bouche was interesting, but not great.

Everything was relatively good at Aria but, unlike with Naha, where we rated the restaurant higher than the sum of its food parts, here, it is sort of the opposite. The food is all good, but it does lack a certain inspiration.

The bathrooms were clean, but nothing to write, or type, home about. They were average hotel bathroomns.

Dinner for 2 with wine by the glass was $150, which is about right for the food experience.

Our ratings for Aria, 200 N. Columbus, Chicago, Illinois:

7.5 of 10 Steak Knives; 2 of 3 Bathroom Brushes